The Majority Chief Whip, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has criticised the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) for petitioning Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie over concerns about the availability of lawyers during the legal vacation.
His comments follow a letter from the GBA to the Chief Justice on Monday, August 10, in which the association raised concerns about directives requiring lawyers to appear in court during the legal vacation, even when they had previously indicated their unavailability.
Mr Dafeamekpor questioned the basis of the GBA’s intervention, arguing that the association does not have oversight responsibility over law firms.
In an interview with Joy News on Tuesday, August 11, he maintained that the GBA is an association of individual lawyers and does not represent law firms.
“What is the business of the GBA in this matter? The GBA has no business in this matter. It is the lawyers who are members of the association and are being affected. GBA is saying that they received petitions from law firms, but law firms are not part of the Ghana Bar Association. GBA is an association of lawyers. They [GBA] told everybody that they got petitions from law firms, not from lawyers.
“GBA has no business in dealing with this matter because the law firms are not members of the Ghana Bar Association. The Ghana Bar Association is constituted by lawyers licensed by the GLC. The law firms, probably so-called, as we call them, chambers, are also licensed separately by the GLC, so if you got a petition by some law firms, you ought to have written to them that there is a proper forum for them to direct their petition.”
The legal vacation is traditionally a period during which court activities are reduced, allowing judges and lawyers to take scheduled breaks.
However, certain cases and proceedings may continue during the period, particularly where the courts have made arrangements for substantive matters to proceed.
The GBA’s concerns reportedly centre on situations in which law firms had informed the relevant authorities of their unavailability during the vacation but were subsequently required to make lawyers available to attend court.
Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
